title: Novel optical switch with a reconfigurable dielectric liquid droplet.
abstract: We demonstrated a novel optical switch with a reconfigurable dielectric liquid droplet. The device consists of a clear liquid droplet (glycerol) surrounded by a black liquid (dye-doped liquid crystal). In the voltage-off state, the incident light passing through the clear liquid droplet is absorbed by the black liquid, resulting in a dark state. In the voltage-on state, the dome of the clear liquid droplet is uplifted by the dielectric force to form a light pipe which in turn transmits the incident light. Upon removing the voltage, the droplet recovers to its original shape and the switch is closed. We also demonstrated a red color light switch with ~10:1 contrast ratio and ~300 ms response time. Devices based on such an operation mechanism will find attractive applications in light shutter, tunable iris, variable optical attenuators, and displays.
authors.affiliation: Dept of Polymer-Nano Science and Technology, Chonbuk National University, Chonju, Chonbuk 561-756, Korea.
authors.forename: Hongwen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Su
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Daqiu
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Shin-Tson
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D017097:Electric Impedance; D004581:Electronics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007909:Lenses; D008029:Lighting / Q000295:instrumentation*; D044085:Microfluidics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012031:Refractometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012996:Solutions / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D012996:Solutions